The Darkest Mind
by Deyna Ian Bloom
Summary: Torin has to touch someone before his demon makes him crazy. Phoebe wants to extract her revenge on the men who stuck her and her brother with demons. When Torin unintentionally touches her, they're forced to live together, or infect the world on accident
1. Prologue

The Darkest Mind

i-i

Prologue

i-i

Black gloved hands flew across a keyboard.

He sighed.

He ached for a touch from anyone. But he couldn't allow it. Not again. He wouldn't doom the world just so he could get pleasure. His skin was a poison to all flesh.

He and his companions had done a horrible crime long ago, cursing them for all eternity. They had opened Pandora's box, unleashing the horrors within and plaguing mankind with its evils. As punishment, he and the other warriors were inhabited by the demons, making the world safer for the mortals and all that shit.

He, Torin, was the keeper of Disease. One touch from him started a virus, spreading as fast as wildfire and killing every human in its path.

It wasn't fair.

He stopped himself. No one likes the 'poor me's.

_Want a woman,_ the demon whispered.

Torin held in a groan. Why was his demon torturing him?

_You know that's not possible. Leave me alone._

Disease smiled. _You can't escape me._

As much as Torin hated to admit it, the demon was right.

Damn it.

The keyboard started clicking again under his fingers, momentarily forgotten.

Disease whimpered. Torin groaned in return and left to go punch something. His demon would give him no rest. At least he could make it suffer too.


	2. Ch1: Concerns Arise

"Hi Torin!" Ashlyn walked into the large gym that was part of the enormous castle the warriors lived in. Torin was punching a suspended bag from the ceiling. Sweat trickled down his face, matting the long white hair that stuck to his neck. Maddox, Ashlyn's husband and the keeper of Violence, was instantly in front of Ashlyn, protecting her and her enormous belly.

Torin gritted his teeth. Protecting her from him, Disease. He gulped down anger and tried to compose himself. He punched the bag harder and grunted.

"Torin, are you alright?" It was Maddox who showed concern. Maddox, the man who hardly left his room because he was too busy pleasuring his pregnant wife.

Wife. Something Torin would never have. Could never have. No matter how much he wanted it. He couldn't change who he was. But by the gods, he wanted to.

Torin punched more and didn't answer Maddox. Torin never worked out, preferring his computers to sweat, but he was still ripped. He was easily bigger than half of his demon-possessed friends.

Torin looked at Maddox for a second before he punched more, shooting the other warrior a look of death. Maddox cupped his wife's waist, lifted her easily, and left the room. Yeah, that's right. Protect everyone from me.

Torin's gloved arms soon became sticky and uncomfortable, so he sat down and stripped off everything except his pants. He breathed a sigh of relief from being out of his confining clothing. The air on his arms felt abnormal. He had hardly ever taken his gloves off in the thousands of years he'd been bonded to the demon inside him. The air in the gym was cool and crisp and it tickled the hairs on his arms.

He got up and walked over to one of the walls of the gym and was greeted by his reflection. His hair was pulled back into a ponytail and small white tendrils licked at his forehead. He ran his hand down his broad chest to the black tattoo on his hip. The mark of the demon within him. It was a large butterfly, creeping over his abdomen and hips. The edges of the left lower wing curled around his shaft.

He didn't care that the butterfly was a little girly. That didn't bother him. It bothered him that the mark was a constant reminder of the hell he lived in every second of every day. Never being allowed to touch, to feel, to give in to wanting. To never love, or be loved. To never cherish and hold someone in his arms and hear her tell him everything would be okay.

Perhaps if he married an immortal it would be alright. Immortals didn't catch his plague, but they did become infected and would carry it to any mortal they touched. He could - would take precautions. He didn't need to be near mortals. He could get food delivered to the door, along with anything else they needed. It would be just him and his love.

_Yes,_ the demon inside him purred. _Someone to touch._ Torin's eyes turned red as he was possessed by Disease, the air filling with the smell of sulfur.

_No! I can't do it!_ Torin shouted to the demon.

Tears stung Torin's eyes. He took in a deep breath of air to suppress them and gathered his thoughts. He thought of death and sickness. Of people screaming in agony. Anything to keep himself from giving in to his demon. For the sake of mortals, he would not, could not, give in. Even if he had to sacrifice his own soul in the process.

He looked up at the mirror again and saw his green eyes replacing the demon's red ones, signaling that his demon was under control. He left the room to cover every inch of his poisoned skin.

After showering, Torin found his way to the kitchen and picked up an apple off the counter. Lucien, the keeper of Death, materialized on the other side of the kitchen island. Lucien could flash to any spot he wanted to by just thinking about it. A perk of being the demon of Death. Torin bit into his apple and ignored his leader as a strong scent of flowers filled the room. Even though Lucien represented death, he smelled good. Torin hated the scent. It reminded him of women.

"Torin," Lucien said lightly. "I heard that you were working out this morning."

Torin hid his anger by taking another bite of apple. Lucien always had to keep tabs on him since he could destroy so easily. The last time he destroyed, it wasn't his fault. All of the other warriors were out fighting Hunters when another group of them invaded the fortress and slit Torin's throat.

Hunters. They considered themselves on a noble quest to rid the planet of the demons the warriors housed. At every turn they were there, waiting to destroy Torin and his kind. Hunters blamed the group for everything bad in the world. In the early days, thousands of years ago, the warriors had been quite destructive. When they finally got their demons under control, it was too late. Hunters had formed against them and had passed what they knew down through the generations until now. Now Hunters were planning the ultimate destruction of the warriors, and they didn't care who or what they had to destroy to make it happen.

Pandora's box. The only thing that could kill the warriors and also capture their demons. If Hunters found it first, all would be lost. Man and demon cannot survive without each other, and the demon would be sucked back into the box. The warriors would die.

Torin took another bite of apple and didn't answer.

"Torin, please don't dance around this." Lucien's glare was smoldering.

Torin ground his teeth together and tossed his apple core into the trash. He looked up at Lucien with his normal calm expression.

"I lost control. I'm fine now, really. No bigs." He pulled a bottle of spring water out of the fridge and drained it. Lucien's eyes, one blue and one brown, scrutinized Torin's face, but Torin didn't give anything away. He _was_ speaking the truth, to an extent. His demon _was_ under control.

_For now._ Disease grinned evilly.

Lucien's face relaxed. "Alright. I'm glad you feel better." He disappeared.

Torin crunched his water bottle with one hand and threw it into the trashcan. Lucien had to get back to his woman. Wouldn't want her to not have five orgasms a day. Or more. In Lucien's case, it was probably more.

"Torin?" A soft female voice came from behind Torin. He instantly felt like breaking down and crying about all of his problems. Only one voice could do that. Cameo, the keeper of Misery. One word from her and you wanted to either cry for hours or kill yourself.

"Hello, Cameo," Torin said without turning around. He and Cameo had formed a fast friendship over the past couple of months. Torin was the only person to make Cameo smile in thousands of years. He was actually having a lot of fun with her for a while.

"Torin, we haven't played in days." Her voice was pouty. Cameo and Torin had been doing a little mutual masturbation, since they couldn't touch each other. Each time, Torin felt worse inside. Torin bit his lip until it bled. She was making him feel miserable on purpose with her stupid demon. He swallowed his salty blood and fought her hold on his emotions.

"We can't be friends, Cameo. I can't ever be close to you. It's not fair to either of us. We've had fun, but it's over." Torin closed his eyes, waiting for her to start crying and braced himself for the effect it would have on him. He didn't want to tell her what was on his mind. It wasn't her fault that he couldn't touch anyone, but he didn't want her to make him feel guilty about it even more than he already was.

"Oh. I see. Perhaps you are right."

Torin winced and bit his lip again, her voice was laced with utter sadness. After a few minutes of silence, Cameo left. He sighed with relief.

_Woman. Want woman,_ Disease growled.

Torin gripped the counter, crushing it until his fingers sunk into the marble.

Was there no justice in his life?


End file.
